IN-GALL, NIGERWoke up to a rooster crowing, three feet from me—no chance of falling asleep after that. The town sounded like a madhouse of screaming, because of what must have been a thousand roosters crowing. Women and children began walking through the courtyard, going about their business, not paying too much attention to the dozen or so crazy foreigners in strange sleeping bags, with all kinds of apparatus.
Spent the entire day, penniless, inside the café, while Sidi’s departure time changed from 9am to noon to afternoon to evening. Highlights were when the beer shipment arrived; when a local big-wheel bought us each a beer (still warm); when we shared our canned loot with the bread & sardines of a newly-arrived French couple; and mostly, when the radio played a dozen measures of Stravinsky’s Petroushka.
We’re all getting to know each other pretty well by now—there’s Christoph, who arranged the truck ride—French, but speaks English very well, having worked for six months in a busy London pub; Jens, my Danish friend who, I’m amazed to find out, is a 36-year old businessman; Sewell, the American, who’s been to 45 of the 50 states and all of Latin America, has been in Africa for five months, plans to see much more of it, plus Australia, before arriving at California after about a year; Jean-Christoph, who comes from Limoges, France; Michel, who is touring northwest Africa by motorcycle; Marcel, who is temporarily traveling with Sewell; a Swiss man, who doesn’t talk much; Fatar, an Algerian citizen from France, who has kept our spirits up by brewing tea; and Terri, a French guy I don’t know too well.
We finally left at dusk, had to change a tire after two hours, and at midnight, camped out just outside of our five-day goal, Agadez, Niger.
PHOTO CREDIT
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